


Lets Face It Love, I'm A Wreck Without Your Help

by walkthatlonesomevalley



Category: Bomb Girls
Genre: F/F, McWitham
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-22
Updated: 2014-07-22
Packaged: 2018-02-09 22:16:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1999989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/walkthatlonesomevalley/pseuds/walkthatlonesomevalley
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gladys is having a hard time dealing with things and Betty is catching on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lets Face It Love, I'm A Wreck Without Your Help

**Author's Note:**

> *This takes place sometime after James died and it is a McWitham tale that involves gladys with both a gun and a suit.*  
> *confessions are made, mcwitham gets romantic*

Let's Face it Love, I'm a Wreck Without Your Help

He'd been out of her life for a while now but his shadow never left. Often when Gladys walked around a corner or stopped to breath on a cool day, she could swear he was there. There was always something in the air when she least expected it or a shape out of the corner of her eye. Everywhere she went she'd somehow feel him. She would smell him or hear him, or maybe even a young man would look like him. It wasn't constant but continual. It wasn't a black cloud following her but more of a surprise feeling at the most random of times. A feeling that simply meant: Lawrence.

He was everywhere some days. And some days it seemed he had a friend.

His spirit was strong but she knew it was only in her mind. She wanted him back more than she wanted for James now that he was gone. In truth, losing James was nothing close to losing Lawrence. Lawrence was her other half while James had only ever been her lover.

"Come over Betts! I need company!"

"You don't need anything, Princess! You're kidding yourself." Betty was having a rough day in actuality. Watching Ivan and Kate was getting to her and Teresa was out of town so there was no hope for happiness in the near future and no guarantee there even was a future there.

"You've been in a mood." Gladys noticed. She enjoyed seeing the many shades of Betty McRae. The girl had many mood swings and sore spots but she loved her for each and every one of them. The more she learned of Betty the better she felt about her own shortcomings and doubts. They were all human after all, even the most admirable and perfect, the most adorable Betty McRae. Gladys nudged Betty playfully as if to say: come on, please.

"Fine! I'll come! But if you try to get me to dress up again I swear to Hitler I'll clock you!" They had spent many night in Glady's room working on Betty's femininity. To Gladys it was odd but fun. She didn't think there was anything wrong with the way Betty dressed before Pastor Rowley's accusations, and she definitely didn't think there was anything wrong with her now. But Betty had insisted that she needed to be more like other girls. In truth, it scared Gladys at the time but, she understood it now.

"Okay fighter, no gags this time, I promise." Gladys had been staying at home ever since the announced death of James Dunn. She was making plans to move back into the rooming house. Her parents were wearing her thin. They still wanted her to fit some sort of mold, sell their product and buy into their lifestyle even though it never brought them any joy. "In truth, I need help packing up." Gladys said, pulling Betty to her side by the elbow.

"You want me to work after work? Gee Princess, you sure know how to show a girl a good time."

"I'm sorry Betts! But it simply must be done! You know how Daddy's been getting to me. Ever since I snapped out of mourning they've been treating me like a tennis ball. They're trying to keep me busy, they think it'll help."

"Yeah, well. Does it?" Gladys had been better recently. James hadn't been gone too long but she was broken for months it seemed. At least now she could suffer company and feign interest in other things. She was practically back to normal now. She could sleep at night, Betty knew that much herself.

"Not really. If I want to think about James I am certainly going to do that. No matter if I'm alone or in a room full of people, there's no avoiding it and they should know." This comment was a small allusion to the fact that the Withams knew what it was like to be in mourning. They may not have been close to James but they were close to their son who had passed. Their son Lawrence, Glady's brother Laurie, Glady's only true companion before Carol and James, before Betty.

Betty noticed that Gladys barely mentioned Lawrence. She could talk about James and the lost future with the love of her life but even small hints about Laurie were rare and far from normal. She was mentioning Laurie more now that James had passed and Betty wasn't sure if this was good or bad but it seemed negative really. Loss is hard, especially when it starts to add up. It can really take a toll on a person, especially a sweet one like Gladys.

"Alright Princess, let me change and we can go." They hopped into Gladys's car and slammed the doors. Betty thought in silence about the struggle in Gladys's mind. Was she finally coming to terms with the loss of Lawrence or was she about to go ape-shit and leave everyone wondering how they could help? There was a long period of time where Gladys was purely unreachable. She had locked herself up in a tower and refused to see a soul.

"What? What is it?" Gladys asked, noticing a mood in Betty, a certain silence.

"It's nothing."

"You're doing it again. You're being odd." Gladys noticed.

"Sorry." Betty couldn't bring herself to mention it. She tried not to act as puzzled as she actually was. Gladys had told her about Gene and the way in which Gene drove the packard. Watching now, she noticed how tightly Gladys was gripping the steering wheel, how when she turned she pushed into the gas instead of easing up. No matter how she wanted to, she didn't think it was wise to bring up Lawrence or even James, especially while driving. Bringing up Gene or even Glady's erratic driving could just be a gateway into madness, so Betty held her tongue.

"I hate when you're quiet."

"Just stewin'. Leave it be."

"It's Kate isn't it? You've been mad for that girl and Ivan's a snake. What kind of man takes up with the best friend of the girl he was just with? It's despicable."

"It's not Kate." Betty cut in.

"Oh, right? And I should just believe that." Gladys took a sharp turn and Betty moved to brace herself on the door with her hand. Gladys noticed how Betty changed. She noticed that Betty's whole body moved to protect itself should the car suddenly roll off the road and upside-down into a ditch. She noticed and she found it comical. How ridiculous to assume that Gladys Witham can't handle a pair of wheels, she thought.

"Are you scared?" She asked. It hadn't occurred to her that her driving could be scary. She hadn't been the one to push the pedal to the metal and try her best to lose control. She hadn't been the one to crash and kill herself, endangering her friends. Gladys Witham is a solid and trustworthy person. Gladys Witham is not the type to be reckless with anyone other than herself. Did Gladys Witham frighten Betty McRae?

"A little, it's not you though." Betty confessed.

"Betts! I'm sorry… I didn't realize." Gladys laid off the gas, resolving to drive slower.

"It's okay, just sick, must've been lunch."

They drove a long while. Gladys changed the subject to Vera and Marco. The two had been getting closer now and Vera confided in Gladys that she was scared that she was liking him just a little too much.

Betty didn't have much to say, she liked Marco but he had a new girl every other Sunday. When they finally got to the Witham house Betty was more than happy to leave the car. She stumbled out accidentally, surprising Gladys who ran over quickly, bracing herself to help Betty stand.

"What's gotten into you?" Gladys was worried.

"I'm fine." Betty insisted, pushing Gladys away and standing up strongly, hating herself for coming out when she felt like staying in.

Inside the Withams were entertaining a few men. Gladys instructed Betty to walk up the stairs without stopping to say hello. It was becoming customary for Betty McRae to frequent the Witham manor. First is was in desperation, then it was in secret, and now it was customary. On some days Adele had even been civil with Betty but lately Gladys had plans to distract her parents while Betty snuck in to keep Betty from never wanting to come back. They were like kids again, the two of them, hiding from their parents and keeping secrets in the same house.

At the top of the stairs Betty lingered and listened as Gladys talked with her parents.

"Gladys, your friend doesn't have to run away from us, it's hardly polite."

"It's fine mother. I told her to do it. I don't want you affecting her." Glady's voice flew up the staircase as strong as ever in it's practiced even tone.

"Whatever that means!" Adele joked, raising a glass and her eyebrows, to the gentlemen on the couch.

"Why don't you join us Gladys, these men are here to discuss fundraising for our new campaign."

"That's quite alright father, I've got business of my own and Betty's waiting for me upstairs." Gladys nodded her head to the men and shot a half-smile at her father before walking off to her room.

At the top of the stairs Betty tried her best not to laugh at the formalities. Gladys almost hit her when she saw Betty's flabbergasted expression. Every day at the Witham's was like another small battle. Betty wondered if these wars ever added up to anything other than the bitterness and infighting she had always been more than aware of. Secretly, she was happy to not be at home anymore, families were complicated, to say the very least.

They flew to Gladys's room and Gladys threw her coat on a side table, immediately taking the liberty of putting on a record of her choosing. It took less than a minute for the room to go from cold and lifeless to friendly and welcoming.

Betty took the cue and threw her coat where Gladys had thrown hers. She walked to the large windows and looked out upon all the land that the Witham's own.

"I could get used to this." Betty smiled.

"You think that at first." Gladys said, moving to the dresser and opening a drawer to pull out a bottle of liquor she had stashed. She unscrewed the top and moved to the window where she sat on the ledge with her legs up and her body language towards Betty instead of out towards the land. "Here." Gladys said, opening the bottle and raising it to Betty.

"That's okay, I've been trying to-" She wanted to say more but explaining things was hard.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, just another one of those things I've been doing."

"You really need to give yourself a break, Betts." Gladys said, sorrowfully. This was the first time in a long while that Betty was back to her normal self. She had endure the mess with Kate and the changing nonsense where she tried to be some other person altogether. She had endured Theresa's storm and then the abandonment. "This whole year has been crazy."

"You're right about that." Betty smiled. "I never say it either." Betty turned to stare out at the yard with all those hills that Gladys actually owned.

"Never say what?" Gladys wondered. Her friend had been somewhere else all afternoon.

"Ah- it's nothing." Betty sucked in air dazedly. She looked down at Betty's hands and saw the bottle of gin just there for her taking. "Fine." She said hopelessly, moving her hand over Glady's and slowly taking the bottle to her lips and drinking from it slowly, staring at Gladys as she did it.

Gladys watched her, her own thirst growing.

"Thanks for coming."

"Shit." Betty said to herself, looking down at her hands as if Gladys had just hit her. "What?!" Gladys said, standing up suddenly to give Betty some room. "What's going on with you today? Are you even here with me?"

"It's nothin'." Betty mumbled, her eyes moving out to the hills, the bottle raising again to her lips with these new thoughts heavy on her mind. "I'm here." She turned back to Gladys with a forced smile and a sign.

"good." Gladys said simply, wanting to do away with sorrow and revel in the joy of company. "Now!" She said, her hands on her hips. "Packing!" She almost ordered.

PART 2

The afternoon wore on happily. Gladys had so much stuff and so much of it was unimportant or practically unnecessary.

"What about this?" Betty held up another top from the trunk at the foot of Glady's bed.

"Take."

"Gladys!" Betty groaned.

"What? It's for Spring!" Gladys was sure she would wear it. She would wear it all. These things were so certain. She had been going through the closet while Betty did the dresser and now the trunk. They already had four suitcases going and almost nothing was left in the empty open drawers by Betty's side.

"Princess, why did you ask for my help if you were just going to take everything?"

"You're supposed to discourage me!" Gladys confirmed. "You're doing a poor job, Betts… We'll have to go through everything again." Sadly, Gladys wasn't even kidding. Betty threw up her hands in frustration.

"Fine. You want to pack. Pack." Betty said, getting up with her gin bottle and making her way onto Glady's bed where she could comfortably lounge about and watch her friend in all her wonderful ridiculousness. "I quit."

"Betts! You can't quit!" Gladys got up to confront her. She was going to chastise Betty but instead she saw the bottle in her hand and snatched it up, taking three long gulps.

"Ouch." Betty said, watching as Gladys grimaced with the taste.

"Wait here." Gladys said, short of breath. She had remembered something she had forgotten. In the back of the closet she had seen something she loved and now she was sure she should try it on for Betty. All that time they were together Gladys was making Betty try things on. It had never been the other way around. For once Gladys wanted to be the one to try things on. She wanted Betty to stare and judge and treat her as something to be fixed.

She disappeared into the walk-in closet, leaving Betty to her booze and her thoughts. This room was becoming so familiar, Betty almost hated to leave it. It was much bigger than her room at VicMu. What she wouldn't give to have her house, her very own house with more than one room and all for her, her alone.

Betty dazed. The booze was slow but sweet and the sun was beginning to go down outside.

"Gettin' dark, Prin-"

Gladys walked out to meet Betty and Betty's words just melted away. Before Betty, Gladys was standing in what looked to be a men's suit. She had tucked her hair up into a top-hat and even tied on a bowtie quiet formal. She didn't just wear the suit, she wore it right.

"What do you think?" Gladys asked.

"Princess…" Betty marveled. All this time knowing her, Betty never pictured Gladys in a man's suit. "You look…"

"Dapper?" Gladys asked cheerily, walking to Betty and pulling her up from the bed by the elbow. "Wait here." Betty was frozen in stance while Gladys flew about the room, a perfectly free bird. Gladys took the booze from Betty's hand and set it down. And taking care she fixed a record on and played from the start, placing herself in front of Betty so that Betty could dance with her and they could laugh. "Come on Betts. Lets have a dance."

Gladys looked down on Betty and saw something there that she hadn't expected. Betty wasn't laughing, she was speechless and staring. It was odd to see her this way. What had the suit done and why was Betty staring at her in that way? She paid no mind. The music had started and she wasn't about to let the moment pass. She took Betty's hand and placed her arm on Betty's lower-back, pulling her friend into her and feeling the surprised breath of Betty McRae's on her own cheek. "I hope you don't mind. I just couldn't resist."

"I don't mind." Betty said dazedly, hiding her eyes. This was so much different than dancing with Ivan. Betty felt she couldn't escape but she also felt that she didn't really want to. She rested into Gladys and allowed Gladys to sway with her around the room, and lead her in the dance, wordlessly.

Gladys wasn't expecting to feel so close and so melancholy. She had thought the suit was a good idea but now she wasn't sure. Betty had been so stunned and quiet, Gladys was sure she had messed things up again.

"Will you talk to me Betts?" Gladys asked, holding her friend close and wishing she would speak.

"Thank you." Betty said, surprising even herself.

"Thank you? For what?" Gladys wondered. She hugged Betty tighter, forcing her body into hers until she was actually hugging her more than dancing.

"Thanks for before. I never say thank you." Betty explained. She had been wanting to say it every since they entered the room. She said it now.

"That's a little vague." Gladys swallowed. something about the situation made her vulnerable. "You could be thanking me for anything." Gladys said happily, wishing for more words. Now that she knew Betty was thinking about her, she wished to know the whole of it, all her thoughts.

"Whose suit is this?" Betty asked, tugging at the jacket bottoms and looking up at Gladys solemnly. It didn't smell like James.

"It's Laurie's suit." Gladys said simply.

"You've been thinking about him a lot."

"I have yes." Gladys said, her arms dropping away from Betty and down to her side. They both stood apart for a moment and Betty stared at Gladys wondering what she should or should not say.

"You can talk to me about him. I know before, when I talked about my brothers, I told you I didn't want to talk about them. You can talk about Laurie with me. Maybe not with your parents, but definitely with me." Betty took Glady's hand and walked back to the bed so that she could sit down. Gladys followed slowly, wondering if she had held back. Her parents never talked about Laurie, so she never talked about him with anyone. What on Earth had prompted her to put on his clothes?

Gladys was suddenly angry, she rushed to the victrola and turned it off, taking the record off the spindle and throwing it into the closet like a frisbee, she seemed frustrated and Betty noticed.

She looked on at Betty, her hands on her hips.

"You look like a cop in that thing." Betty laughed.

Gladys had already forgotten, she looked down at herself in the suit and laughed, untying the bow-tie and blushing.

"I'm an idiot." She insisted.

"You're not." Betty said, looking on at her in amazement. No one had ever worn a suit for her. At least, no one that mattered.

Gladys threw off her hat and crawled up onto the bed on her stomach.

"Sometimes I think you saved me."

"I know the feeling." Betty confessed, looking down at Gladys who was lying next to her now on her stomach, crawling closer to her and looking up at her with those puppy-dog eyes. Those eyes that craved attention.

"No, I mean it, Betts. You've saved me. Multiple times."

"Princess. I know how you feel." Betty said, taking Glady's hand away from her face and holding it in her own. "Do you want me to list them? Where should I even start?" Betty said aloud while Gladys perked up inquisitively, how much had Betty noticed? How much had Betty seen? "Look, I can't count them, there are too many." Betty was sure of it. She had drank too much to count.

"Which time was the most important?" Gladys asked, wanting to know more, wanting to have this talk.

"After Kate. After the letter." Betty looked like she was about to cry. Gladys moved up on the bed and turned around so that she could lay against the headboard. She pulled Betty to her until they were huddled there in the room taking up as little space as possible.

"I think for me, it was James."

"After the funeral?" Betty asked, looking up at Gladys with tears in her eyes.

"Yup." Gladys said, pulling the booze from the side table and taking a drink.

"I knew it." Betty said, her jaw clenched.

"If you hadn't come that night, I might've died." Gladys confessed.

"No." Betty said, wanting it not to be true. She knew Gladys had been lost but she liked to think she could never be that broken.

Gladys got up from the bed and walked over to the closet. She pulled something from a box and came out to show Betty.

"Christ! Gladys! Put that away!" Betty yelled at the sight of Gladys standing in front of her with a gun.

Gladys walked back to the bed and sat down. She looked down at the gun and twisted it around in her hands, taking it into one hand and then the other, feeling the familiar weight.

"What are you doing?" Betty asked, wanting to grab it from her and throw it across the room.

"I thought about it a lot then, Betty." Gladys said, looking over at her friend. "I thought about it a lot. Especially that night."

Betty looked at Gladys and wanted to scream. The idea that her friend could've taken her own life. The idea that her friend could be somehow gone right now instead of right in front of her, right here where she could reach. She got up off the bed and walked angrily towards the window where she could stare out and pretend that none of this was real.

Gladys set the gun down on the bed and walked slowly to Betty. Her friend was shaking and she saw.

"I didn't do it." Gladys said, wrapping Betty in a hug from behind. Laying her chin on Betty's shoulder and cradling her friend because that secret had been a long time coming.

"I don't want-" Betty began.

"I know." Gladys said, moving her hand down Betty's left arm until she could reached her hand and grab it. She spun Betty around and forced her to face her, forced her to hug her correctly and wrap her arms around her body, hug her right and true. "You don't want to think of me like that." Gladys said softly.

"That's not what I was-"

"I know." Gladys said again. No matter what Betty was thinking, Gladys could tell. There was no hiding any more but Gladys had been hiding all of these secrets all of this time.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"What good could it have done then?" Gladys asked. "You stopped me from doing something reckless. You always stop me." Gladys confessed.

"Yeah but, why me?"

"Why you?" Gladys thought, her eyes squinting into the dark, now that the sun was lost behind the hills.

Gladys thought about it more and more with each passing day. When she felt Laurie's ghost she would shudder and think of Betty. She wanted to tell Betty, she had always wanted to tell Betty.

"Why were you upset today… in the car?" Gladys remembered.

"I, well." Betty was going to lie but she didn't. "I was thinking about Laurie."

"Wh-" Gladys let go of Betty and paced the room. How could Betty have known? Why would Betty be thinking of Laurie? And all before this business with the suit…

"What?" Betty asked. "What is it?" Gladys turned back towards Betty with tears in her eyes.

"It's his birthday, Betts. Today is Laurie's birthday." Gladys said it and threw up her hands. She walked to her bed and plopped down longways. There was no use thinking when the world had a mind of it's own.

"I- I didn't know that." Betty said apologetically. She walked to Glady's side and lowered herself to sit away from her so that she could hold Glady's hand and not feel awkward about it.

"All this time, you've known things I've never said." Gladys said softly, breaking the silence.

"I didn't know about the gun." Betty said.

"It doesn't matter." Gladys laughed. "Betts, you know me. You know everything about me. Even the things I don't talk about. How…" Gladys stopped.

"I'm sorry." Betty wasn't sure what to say. Was it wrong of her to assume so much? Was it wrong of her to always want to be there since Gladys had done so much for her?

Gladys got up off the bed and sat down next to Betty on the ground. She wanted to see her as perfectly as she could.

"Why are you looking at me like that." Betty laughed. Gladys had turned to face her, she looked about ready to kiss her.

"I want to know you, Betty McRae."

"You do know me." Betty raised her eyebrows. Gladys took her hand just as Betty had taken Kate's hand at the piano so many months ago.

"Yeah, well, it isn't good enough." Gladys said, turning to her friend and moving her to squeeze between her legs in a hug. Betty leaned back onto Gladys and Gladys slid her hand onto Betty's stomach so that she could hold her where she was and feel her weight on top of her.

"You're a deviant." Betty joked, feeling much too light.

"No, you." Gladys smiled. There was no use joking anymore. All at once Gladys knew exactly what could cheer her up and make her feel at ease. "Will you kiss me Betts?"

"Huh?" Betty said, sitting up and away from her friend.

"Kiss me."

"How?" Betty asked. She asked it as if kissing was something weird and foreign, something she didn't know how to do.

"Get on the bed." Gladys ordered.

Gladys stood up and pulled her shirt out of her pants, unbuttoning it all the way but leaving it on. Only her tank top now between them. She pulled Betty up by her hand. "On the bed." She ordered.

"Alright, alright. Don't shoot me." Betty joked and then saddened remembering the gun.

"Don't think." Gladys said.

"Okay." Betty agreed. She laid down on the bed and she felt her whole body tingling. It was odd to feel unsafe yet perfectly aware that nothing here would hurt her, nothing at all.

Gladys looked down at Betty and adored knowing that she had her in her sights. Betty was hers and she would do as she said and all would be good. From the foot of the bed Gladys crawled up to Betty until she had her between her arms and beneath her, trapped in her view and trapped in her room.

"What should-"

"Quiet." Gladys ordered. "It's my turn." Gladys was looking down at her, searching her eyes, and seeing how beautiful she was, how absolutely perfect. "I want you." She said, lowering herself down onto Betty and pushing upward, taking her lips in her mouth. "Mmmm." Gladys moaned into the kiss she had been wanting to give for quiet some time. Falling quickly and feeling Betty's body right beneath hers, her hip bones and ribs, her breasts and heaving chest, Gladys let herself fall. She dove into the kiss, using her hands to search Betty's body and feel at her skin. She tucked a hand beneath Betty's shirt and ran it up Betty's side, trailing it back down with her nails lightly scratching. Feeling the softness of a girl beneath her instead of a boy.

"Uh." Betty moaned, not sure of what to do. This wasn't like Theresa and it certainly wasn't like Kate. Betty wanted Gladys but she had always told herself she shouldn't go there.

"Too much?" Gladys asked, kissing Betty still, almost refusing to stop in her pushing. She sat up on top of Betty, straddling her with her knees by her hips.

"Princess, I -" Betty looked up at her but she wasn't sure what to say. Gladys was there in that suit, she was on top of her looking beautiful and yet more feminine than she had ever looked before.

Gladys lowered her hands to Betty's shirt and began to unbutton it without words.

"You first." Betty said. From below her she enjoyed that Gladys was where she was. She enjoyed knowing that Gladys took away her tough decision and forced her to feel the things that she wanted to feel.

"Fine." Gladys said, pulling her jacket off and then her white shirt. With those things gone she was just in her tank top. Her bra had already been gone and Betty knew that. Gladys knew that Betty knew that and it made her smile. "Okay?" Gladys asked.

Betty nodded and Gladys lowered herself some more, unbuttoning the last few buttons and lightly pulling Betty's shirt wide open to reveal her bra. When she began to lower herself Betty could hardly contain her emotions, she felt as if she was on a rocket being launched by fire straight out to space but then Gladys sat back up, halting the launch.

"What? What is it?" Betty asked.

"Calm down." Gladys said with a smile. She moved her hands to the hem of her tank top and pulled it up over her head so that she wouldn't be wearing anything on top of Betty, not anything at all. Betty looked on at her in near shock. "Sit up." Gladys ordered. It wasn't about seeing, she had already seen it all.

Betty sat up as much as she could. With Gladys on her legs all she could do was hold herself halfway up and hope that was good enough. "Like that?" Betty asked.

"Perfect." Gladys said, pulling Betty into a kiss and scooting her knees forward until she could feel Betty's stomach against the hem of Laurie's pants. Carefully and in the kiss, Gladys shoved back the collar of Betty's shirt until it fumbled down Betty's arms and Betty found her way straight out of it.

With the shirt gone, only the bra was left. Gladys pressed her body to Betty, angry that things weren't happening much faster. She broke from the kiss and yanked at Betty's bra until she struggled it off of her. It occurred to Gladys that maybe she should lock her door but she thought her mother would know better than to barge, she shooed the thought away and leaned forward until Betty was back down on the bed and helpless beneath her.

She kissed Betty's lips and her cheeks and felt as her whole body lowered on to Betty's, feeling her skin upon Betty's skin, warm and soft, familiar and yet not. Feeling Betty's hands at her side and her breath in her ear. It was just like James only softer. Betty was smaller than her and more delicate. Where James wanted to take her and control her, Betty want the exact opposite.

"Yes." Gladys said as her body pressed to Betty's. She hadn't noticed before but Betty had been keeping her hands to herself. Now, with the nakedness, Betty wasn't scared. She moved her hands onto Gladys sides and clutched at her firmly. "Mmm…" Gladys moaned, finding Betty's mouth once again and tasting her sweetly, with gin on her tongue. She found Betty's hands with her own and pulled her hands up over her head, pressing them down on the bed.

Betty felt her breath catch and Gladys noticed.

"Are you okay?" Gladys asked, noticing. Her friend had been breathing hard and then suddenly not breathing at all. Gladys noticed the hands she had taken, noticed the way in which she was almost forcing Betty to experience this. She rolled to Betty's side and watched Betty as she breathed quicker and quicker with short breaths that seemed to be helping nothing.

"Breath." Gladys whispered, lowering her hand to Betty's chest and resting it there with a little pressure. "Breathe." She said again. She'd be slow from now on.

It was too much too soon, Gladys thought. They had been playing and then there was the gun. All that talk about Laurie and now this. She had turned her friend into a wreck.

"I'm sorry Betts." She apologized.

"Kiss me again." Betty said. She hadn't believed she had said it but she did. "Please." Betty asked, almost pleading.

Glady used a hand to turn Betty's face toward her.

"I would love to." Gladys said while Betty's eyes watched her. Betty watched as Gladys looked at her lips and then smiled, leaning in for a slow and gentle kiss.

Betty met her halfway, finding it obvious that slow was better, finding it obvious that this was perfect and meant to be.

"I should've done this a long time ago." Gladys said, moving apart from Betty but placing herself back on top of her.

"I'm not complaining." Betty said.

It was dark in the room and that gun sat beside them forgotten. If Adele had peaked quietly in and seen her daughter naked and on top of another woman, her daughter panting wildly with damp hair and scratch marks, she would have simply closed the door and sworn to herself that would never mentioned it out loud.

In the morning a servant knocked and Gladys answered. A cart was wheeled in with chilled champagne and orange juice for a mimosa.

Gladys assumed that her mother must've thought her to be alone since there was only one crystal flute. But there was a whole carafe of orange juice and a basket filled with fruit, far too much for her to enjoy.

Locking the door, she ignored the cart for a while more, throwing herself back into bed and hugging herself up to Betty McRae while the sun rose and filled the room pleasantly.

THE END


End file.
